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Winona & Vampires · Movie Meltdown

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: I'm Peter Weller and you're listening to Movie Meltdown.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Your move, creep.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: It's showtime.
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  Speaker 4: The following feature has been rated R by the Motion
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  Speaker 4: Picture Association of America. It is intended for mature audiences
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  Speaker 4: and parental discretion is advised.
• 0:30
  Speaker 5: Our nuclear reactor pumping out one million kilowatts of power.
• 1:06
  Speaker 6: If you're going to eat the victim on my nice
• 1:08
  Speaker 6: green couch, put down some newspaper on the floor and
• 1:11
  Speaker 6: some towels.
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  Speaker 1: It's not hard to do.
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  Speaker 2: We're vampires. We don't put down towels.
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  Speaker 1: Some vampires do.
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  Speaker 2: We're not serious ones.
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  Speaker 1: What's up and welcome to Movie Meltdown. I'm Brian and
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: joining me this week, very special guest, Winona Nelson.
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  Speaker 7: Hello.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: So usually, I've talked to a lot of artists over
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: the years and usually I will start with a very
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: specific because half the time we've met because some sort
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: of tie-in for movies and then I'm like, okay, how
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: did you end up being a movie geek and how
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: did it tie to art? From what little I'd heard initially,
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  Speaker 1: that's not the case with you. You didn't start off
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  Speaker 1: immersed in TV and movies and all of that stuff
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  Speaker 1: like a lot of kids do. So I guess where
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  Speaker 1: did you come from and then how did that all
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  Speaker 1: kind of come into play?
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  Speaker 7: Well, I grew up in Duluth, Minnesota, which is a
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  Speaker 7: small city. And at the time I was growing up
• 2:17
  Speaker 7: in the 90s, a lot of people didn't have VCRs yet.
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  Speaker 7: And my brother and I broke our family TV with
• 2:28
  Speaker 7: a big magnet, which was really fun while we were
• 2:31
  Speaker 7: doing it, but it meant we didn't have TV for years.
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  Speaker 1: Was it a specific stunt you were pulling?
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  Speaker 7: Yeah, with the old CRT TVs, if you put a
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  Speaker 7: magnet up to the screen, it would bend all the
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  Speaker 7: colors and do this psychedelic effect.
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  Speaker 1: I kind of remember this being a thing.
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  Speaker 7: Right, but it's permanent. There's no fixing the TV after
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  Speaker 7: you do that. So... And my mom's relationship with television
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  Speaker 7: was dubious anyway.
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  Speaker 1: You were lucky to have one, period. Yes. So now
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: that you broke it, tough luck.
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  Speaker 8: Yeah.
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  Speaker 7: And so sometimes my mom would rent a TV and
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  Speaker 7: VCR for a birthday party.
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  Speaker 1: I remember that, yeah, the VCR being a thing, but
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  Speaker 1: it'd be, I guess, those one unit TV VCR combos.
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  Speaker 7: Yeah, and even that was a special treat because you
• 3:18
  Speaker 7: had to do a $ 100 deposit to get that. So
• 3:24
  Speaker 7: that wasn't even every year.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, VCRs used to cost a fortune. Now they
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  Speaker 1: don't even exist. But towards the end there, they were like, here, $ 50, here,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: take one. But yeah, back in the early days, it
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: was like a grand to get a VCR.
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  Speaker 7: Yeah, so I grew up without cable. Um, even when
• 3:40
  Speaker 7: we did have a television and then, uh, I would,
• 3:43
  Speaker 7: I would sometimes see cable TV at my daycare. Um,
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  Speaker 7: or when my, when I would visit my father, he
• 3:52
  Speaker 7: had cable. So that was always really exciting. Yeah. Um,
• 3:58
  Speaker 7: and back then on Cartoon Network, they had the Saturday
• 4:02
  Speaker 7: Japanime matinee. So I saw Akira and, uh, I think
• 4:08
  Speaker 7: I saw Ghost in the Shell on that also.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 7: And those were very exciting to me.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, again, both being animated, that's a nice little
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  Speaker 1: peek into your future. So at that point, had you
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  Speaker 1: already become interested in art as well?
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  Speaker 7: Yeah, well, my family is all artists. So I grew
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  Speaker 7: up drawing. I was drawing before I even have conscious memories.
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  Speaker 7: One of my earliest memories is of asking my mom
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  Speaker 7: how to spell my name so that I could sign
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  Speaker 7: a drawing I made for her.
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  Speaker 9: Nice.
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  Speaker 7: Because I knew the power of a signature already. That's true.
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  Speaker 1: That's how you finish off the artwork.
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  Speaker 8: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And then put it on the fridge.
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  Speaker 7: That's when you know it's done. I remember it was
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  Speaker 7: a picture of a giraffe that I drew for her.
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  Speaker 1: And that's all you do now. Settled into just giraffe work.
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  Speaker 1: So then I guess it, I mean, early on, I
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  Speaker 1: guess we're there. Was the family itself making money off
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  Speaker 1: of art?
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  Speaker 8: No.
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  Speaker 7: No, they never made money. They don't know anything about
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  Speaker 7: making money.
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  Speaker 1: So it wasn't a business choice that early.
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  Speaker 8: No, no.
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  Speaker 7: My mother and father met at art school. They were
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  Speaker 7: going to the University of Wisconsin-Superior, which still has a
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  Speaker 7: strong art focus, but their focus is on abstract art
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  Speaker 7: and primitivism and things like that. My father was really
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  Speaker 7: into cubism, and my mom liked mixed media and collage.
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  Speaker 7: And so neither of them does the type of work
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  Speaker 7: that I like to do. My dad also does photorealistic
• 5:49
  Speaker 7: wildlife painting in acrylic. And he does sell those, but
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  Speaker 7: it's for very small amounts of money. So neither of
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  Speaker 7: them made a living at it.
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  Speaker 1: That's a lot of work to invest into these.
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  Speaker 7: Yeah, and in a small... city there's not really that
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  Speaker 7: much of a gallery.
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  Speaker 1: It's not a need for it near as much.
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  Speaker 7: Yeah so there there are people who appreciate art but
• 6:10
  Speaker 7: they're they're if they're buying a painting it's for like
• 6:13
  Speaker 7: 50 or something and that's not living on money you.
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  Speaker 1: Don't get the gallery prices in a small town or
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  Speaker 1: outside of that gallery scene either even even here putting
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: shows together i i did it with artists for years
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  Speaker 1: and like The ones that were always successful were the
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: ones that were the low end of it. When we
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: would get to a bigger venue and we'd get gallery prices,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: people might hang out, but they didn't really buy stuff.
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  Speaker 1: So it is hard to kind of break through that
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  Speaker 1: barrier and start getting people to recognize your art and
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: then pay for it at that level as well.
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  Speaker 7: Right. I think the transition for me, when I realized
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  Speaker 7: that it was something that you could make money doing,
• 6:52
  Speaker 7: was when my brother got his first job and he
• 6:55
  Speaker 7: got a PlayStation 1 and Final Fantasy VII and Xenogears.
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  Speaker 7: And both of the booklets of those had the character
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  Speaker 7: art in the booklet.
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  Speaker 1: The amazing artwork, yeah.
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  Speaker 7: Yeah, and so I saw the character drawings in there
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  Speaker 7: and I was like, I bought this for money, which
• 7:13
  Speaker 7: means somebody got paid making it. So that's got to
• 7:17
  Speaker 7: be a job.
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  Speaker 1: I love that. Again, that's why I love delving into, like,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: early stuff when you're still a kid and figuring all
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: this out, because there is that moment where you're like,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: it never occurred to me up until this point, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the rest of us get so used to, you know,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: even when you get into like performers that like when
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: finally it clicks in their head of like, Oh, this
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: thing I like doing some people do this for a living.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: And that's a different mode that not everybody has. Yeah.
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  Speaker 7: And, um, my brother getting that job was why we
• 7:47
  Speaker 7: had a TV in the house again.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 7: And, At that point, you could play.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Just to play PlayStation.
• 7:52
  Speaker 7: You could play... I think, could you play a DVD
• 7:55
  Speaker 7: on the PlayStation 1?
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Not one. I think not until it got to Xbox era,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: crossed over, and you could start using DVD.
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  Speaker 7: Yeah, and PlayStation 2.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, PlayStation 2, Xbox, I believe.
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  Speaker 7: Well, we must have gotten a VCR or something then.
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  Speaker 7: I remember that.
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  Speaker 7: When we did have a TV and a VCR in
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  Speaker 7: my childhood, it was like episodic. Sometimes we would get
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  Speaker 7: things and then they would break.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Magnets might have been involved.
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  Speaker 7: Maybe. Not naming any names. But we would sometimes get
• 8:29
  Speaker 7: tapes from the local library. So my exposures to things
• 8:33
  Speaker 7: were really unusual. I remember we got We got a
• 8:37
  Speaker 7: tape of Grave of the Fireflies because we were excited
• 8:41
  Speaker 7: that there was an animated movie.
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  Speaker 1: That's a grim win for kids.
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  Speaker 10: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Great, but not uplifting.
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  Speaker 7: And the animated, what's the book with the rabbits?
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Oh, Watership Down.
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  Speaker 9: Yeah, Watership Down.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was traumatized as a child by Watership Down.
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  Speaker 7: Did you know they made another animated movie called Plague Dogs?
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  Speaker 1: I've heard of it. Yeah, I've heard about that one.
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  Speaker 7: Which is also traumatic.
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  Speaker 1: And I think they're doing, I think Netflix picked up
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  Speaker 1: Watership Down to do a series of it that's going
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  Speaker 1: to be animated.
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  Speaker 7: Right, but that's CG.
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  Speaker 1: But that's, yeah, yeah. But I mean, just in general,
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure it's still going to be traumatic. Still kids
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  Speaker 1: are still not safe. But yeah, I loved the original
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Watership Down artwork. And then just how, again, how it
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: wasn't dumbed down for kids. Like it really was just
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  Speaker 1: telling these stories about these characters that happen to be rabbits.
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  Speaker 1: No matter how vicious it was, like, it's a hardcore story.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: But again, that kind of shows where we were coming
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  Speaker 1: up because I grew up watching that too. So I
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: do wonder because kids don't necessarily get exposed to that
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: kind of stuff early on now. But at the same time,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: sometimes they see worse stuff thanks to the internet. So
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure, like, we're creating this weird balance.
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  Speaker 7: So many people my age grew up with, like, Schwarzenegger movies.
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  Speaker 9: Yeah.
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  Speaker 7: Paul verhoeven movies and things like that where the the
• 10:02
  Speaker 7: violence is pretty graphic in those too um but that's
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  Speaker 7: like live action so it's the i feel like that
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  Speaker 7: might be worse in some ways yeah.
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  Speaker 1: I mean i don't know again i think it just
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  Speaker 1: i think you have to almost prepare the kids for
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: it like you have to get them In the mindset
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: so that they know, first off, what it is and
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: that it's not real. And then that you kind of
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: ease them into it. So that way they're not like
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: overwhelmed in one shot when you're watching like RoboCop's hand
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: explode or something. I think it helps.
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  Speaker 7: Oh, I did see that when I was a kid.
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  Speaker 7: There you go. RoboCop was the basis of many of
• 10:39
  Speaker 7: our childhood pretend games.
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  Speaker 8: Nice.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, that's the thing. They didn't separate those
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: days because there was also a Saturday morning RoboCop show.
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  Speaker 1: Like it was an animated cartoon. Yeah. I didn't know
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: about that. A couple of years afterwards, they greenlit it
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: to put on network television. And I'm like, even at
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: the time, I was like, but this movie is not
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: for kids. Why is this TV? So they did that
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: with a lot of those weird R-rated movies. And then
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: they'd make a Saturday morning cartoon out of the character's
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Because they could sell toys. So I understand the bottom line,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: but it's a weird move to make.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 11:16
  Speaker 7: Yeah, so my exposure to things was really weird. It
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  Speaker 7: tended to be animated things because that was like a
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  Speaker 7: theme that I could easily seek out, not knowing anything
• 11:27
  Speaker 7: about it.
• 11:28
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
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  Speaker 7: Whereas there was just like if you wanted to just
• 11:32
  Speaker 7: pick a movie at the library.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: You don't know what you're going to get.
• 11:35
  Speaker 7: No, it might be like... I don't know.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Probably back then it was all old classic black and white. Surprisingly,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: I've actually gotten a lot of stuff at the library lately.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: The library now has sort of picked up where old
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: video stores died off. And they have a pretty huge
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: amount of stuff. And now they're doing an online streaming service.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: So it's a different thing today. But I remember the
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: first couple of times I went there and they had
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: maybe even still VHS tapes. But definitely when they started
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: carrying DVD, I was just like, yeah, it's just Masterpiece
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Theater and weird BBC projects. So it was a lot
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: of very... highbrow stuff that's going to be harder for
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: kids to get into.
• 12:10
  Speaker 7: I've had conversations with people who grew up in other
• 12:13
  Speaker 7: countries or who grew up in families that were working
• 12:16
  Speaker 7: internationally and that kind of thing and their exposures to
• 12:20
  Speaker 7: pop culture were very spotty like mine. Libraries and like
• 12:26
  Speaker 7: whatever weird bootleg videos they could get their hands on
• 12:29
  Speaker 7: and things like that.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: That used to be the way to get a lot
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: of that stuff. So then I guess what At what
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: point did it turn into, once you got the light
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: go off in your head that you can make money
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: at it, at what point did you seek it out
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: as a job?
• 12:42
  Speaker 7: Well, originally I couldn't find any information about how to
• 12:47
  Speaker 7: get into that as a job. I thought maybe, like
• 12:51
  Speaker 7: in high school, I took community Japanese classes for a
• 12:55
  Speaker 7: while because I thought I might have to move to
• 12:57
  Speaker 7: Japan to become a video game artist.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Sure, there's a market.
• 13:01
  Speaker 7: Yeah. And I didn't do that for very long, only
• 13:04
  Speaker 7: about six months. And it was fun, but it was
• 13:08
  Speaker 7: just a lot to do outside of school, too. And
• 13:13
  Speaker 7: then the internet started being a bigger and bigger part
• 13:17
  Speaker 7: of my life. We finally got a home computer. I
• 13:20
  Speaker 7: started doing digital artwork because I didn't have to buy
• 13:24
  Speaker 7: supplies for that. I had a free copy of Photoshop Elements.
• 13:29
  Speaker 7: That came with the printer that we got. It came
• 13:32
  Speaker 7: with Photoshop Elements 3.0. And so that was actually how
• 13:37
  Speaker 7: I started doing art was digital.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: That's interesting.
• 13:39
  Speaker 7: I mean, as far as coloring.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: It goes kind of backwards.
• 13:42
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: So many artists I know start just nothing but hand
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: drawing stuff. And then they fought like digital every step
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: of the way. So I think we are getting to
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: that point of like kids that are coming up. computers
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: in your house immediately when you grow up. Like, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I think that's the way most kids are probably going
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: to learn about it now.
• 13:57
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
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  Speaker 7: And when I was growing up and, and I was
• 14:01
  Speaker 7: really interested in digital art, but it was still such
• 14:05
  Speaker 7: a new frontier that art schools didn't know what digital
• 14:08
  Speaker 7: art was. They didn't have anybody teaching it.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: And probably wouldn't have counted it as real art anyway.
• 14:13
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: That's part of the backhanded end of that.
• 14:17
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 14:18
  Speaker 7: I went to Ohio state university for a year. Kind
• 14:22
  Speaker 7: of just randomly because I couldn't decide on an art
• 14:26
  Speaker 7: school to go to and I ended up moving to
• 14:29
  Speaker 7: Ohio because of a boyfriend at the time. And then
• 14:34
  Speaker 7: I got a job as a barista... For Ohio State University,
• 14:38
  Speaker 7: and I had a tuition benefit, so I went to
• 14:42
  Speaker 7: school for free for a year.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Being more artistic than also being a barista. I think
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: they go hand in hand.
• 14:48
  Speaker 7: That's right. So when I was at Ohio State University,
• 14:53
  Speaker 7: I wanted to be in art classes, so that's what
• 14:59
  Speaker 7: I took, but none of it was targeted, really. They
• 15:02
  Speaker 7: made me do the foundation year first.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: Basic general yeah.
• 15:06
  Speaker 7: And um i was already as far as drawing ability
• 15:09
  Speaker 7: and uh exposure to art i was already way past
• 15:14
  Speaker 7: where yeah most people in a foundation year were but
• 15:18
  Speaker 7: they didn't let you skip it yeah it's required yeah
• 15:22
  Speaker 7: and so i was kind of frustrated by that but
• 15:25
  Speaker 7: at that same time i found um I found online
• 15:29
  Speaker 7: resources for getting into doing art for comics, and that
• 15:32
  Speaker 7: was something that you could get paid for, you know,
• 15:36
  Speaker 7: a piddling amount, but you could get paid for it.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: As opposed to nothing, yeah.
• 15:40
  Speaker 7: Yeah, so I started doing some freelance indie comic book
• 15:45
  Speaker 7: coloring for like $ 10 a page and then sometimes not
• 15:49
  Speaker 7: getting paid for it when I finished. Ah, the Internet. Yeah.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: The shady aspects of the Internet.
• 15:56
  Speaker 7: Yeah, but in looking for art jobs on the Internet,
• 16:00
  Speaker 7: I found conceptart.org, and that website was all about getting
• 16:05
  Speaker 7: into doing art for video games. So that was where
• 16:07
  Speaker 7: I learned what goes in a portfolio and how to
• 16:11
  Speaker 7: pursue that as a career. And then they opened a school,
• 16:14
  Speaker 7: and I ended up going to their school.
• 16:15
  Speaker 10: Yeah.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Well, then I guess just to kind of give people
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: a handle on what you're doing now, because I think
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: now you're doing mostly freelance stuff. Mm-hmm. Because I know
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: that's changed so much over the years, too. How easy
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: is it to, I guess once you've got your name
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: out there, it's a little easier. But as far as
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: just working as a freelance artist in the world as
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: it is today, how does that work out? Or how
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: challenging is it, I suppose?
• 16:41
  Speaker 7: It's not super easy to get into. It really, really
• 16:46
  Speaker 7: helps to make relationships in person. Yeah. Most of my
• 16:49
  Speaker 7: income is coming from the game industry freelance that I do.
• 16:54
  Speaker 7: And that's all through contacts that I met in person.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Video game or more of the.
• 16:59
  Speaker 7: Video game.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Now we've gotten to card games and role-playing is back.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: It's all had a weird push in the last decade.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: It's like it's all back again.
• 17:08
  Speaker 7: I do Magic the Gathering cards as well. And that
• 17:12
  Speaker 7: was another one where you can get into that online.
• 17:15
  Speaker 7: And they hire artists from all over the world online. Um,
• 17:19
  Speaker 7: and you submit to their art job email address and, um, they,
• 17:24
  Speaker 7: they don't answer the emails, but they look at all
• 17:27
  Speaker 7: of them.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Which is, yeah. More than you get some of all
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: other places.
• 17:31
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 17:32
  Speaker 7: So that's actually one that's, that's more open to hiring
• 17:35
  Speaker 7: people that they haven't met, but the quality bar is
• 17:37
  Speaker 7: very high. So that's not a beginning level job.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Professional end.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:42
  Speaker 7: Yeah. But as far as the video game work goes
• 17:44
  Speaker 7: that I worked in house in studios, um, around 10
• 17:49
  Speaker 7: years ago and i'm still working for a lot of
• 17:51
  Speaker 7: the same people yeah is it.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: All just visual or are you starting to get into
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: the game creation aspect at all or still just like
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: artwork to go with the.
• 18:00
  Speaker 7: Game it's all just visual although um my main client
• 18:04
  Speaker 7: right now has sort of built their game engine around
• 18:09
  Speaker 7: um my my artwork and my boyfriend's artwork because uh
• 18:14
  Speaker 7: we both are We're illustrators and concept artists, so we
• 18:19
  Speaker 7: have the ability to take a piece all the way
• 18:21
  Speaker 7: to finish. And so they can take the 2D artwork,
• 18:26
  Speaker 7: animate it, and have that be... basically how they're building
• 18:30
  Speaker 7: the game without having a large team to turn it
• 18:32
  Speaker 7: into 3d in the middle.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: So, I mean, that's the way a lot of artists,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: I mean, even as we move into film, like that's
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: the way it is now too, that it used to
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: be so many different jobs and now just to survive,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: basically you have to learn how to do everything and
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: be your own promotion in the process too. So I'm assuming, yeah,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: it's good that you have all these different areas that you're,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: you're established in and, and, have experience in that you
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: can kind of lean on.
• 18:58
  Speaker 7: Yeah. They still have other people who do the animating.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 19:01
  Speaker 7: So I don't have to do that part.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Thankfully. But I'm sure later.
• 19:05
  Speaker 7: But it's been to my benefit to have a diverse
• 19:10
  Speaker 7: skill set as far as working in comics taught me
• 19:14
  Speaker 7: to really focus on drawing acting, which helps a lot
• 19:19
  Speaker 7: with doing character design and is part of why I
• 19:23
  Speaker 7: was able to paint characters that are convincing enough that
• 19:28
  Speaker 7: they can be the backbone of this whole game system.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: Definitely. Just looking at your art, it's gorgeous. So yeah,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: just being able to have both ends of that as well,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: because even looking at the paintings you have, to be
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: able to do that level of of you know detail
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: is is amazing so yeah thank you which i guess
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: what just so people can get a handle on it
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: um do you want to throw out your website or
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: stuff for people to.
• 19:54
  Speaker 7: Go check it out sure my website is winona nelson.com
• 19:58
  Speaker 7: it's w-i-n-o-n-a-n-e-l-s-o-n.com And I'm very easy to find on Facebook
• 20:07
  Speaker 7: and Instagram as well. It's not a very common name.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: So we will take our break now and we will
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: be back with this week's movie.
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: It's intermission time.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: Time for refreshment.
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: You're invited to visit the refreshment stand, where you'll be
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: greeted with fast, friendly service. You'll find hot dogs, juicy hamburgers,
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: and mouth-watering delicious pizza. There are refreshing hot and cold beverages,
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: ice cold cola, and orange drink. Goes great with an
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: order of crispy french fries. Then there's a wide selection
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: of your favorite candies and other delicious snacks. And there's
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: always a fresh batch of hot buttered popcorn to go
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: with the rest of the show. So visit the refreshment
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: stand now and add to your enjoyment of the movie.
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: We're happy to have you with us tonight and hope
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: you'll come back often.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Don't you guys like horror?
• 21:52
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Don't you think everybody should join the Meltketeer Horror Club?
• 21:56
  Speaker 7: Yes.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: I think you should go to moviemeltdown.com right now. And
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: just click on the Patreon link and join up. And
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: then all these amazing horror themed episodes we've got coming
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: up that you can listen to. At the lowest. I
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: try to keep it like so everybody can join in.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: So like you can throw more money at us if
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: you want. But mostly as long as you like kick
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: in a couple of bucks. You can always listen to
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: the horror episodes. And experience the horror with us. So
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: join the club now. Yeah.
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: Don't you want to be cool?
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, really. Don't you want to be cool?
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: All the cool kids are doing it. Okay, wait. Just
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: by being a movie geek, you're already not a cool kid, and.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: Neither are we.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: So all the geeks are doing it. Join the club now.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: Cool's a relative term anyway. It certainly is today. So, yeah,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: get on board. Join right now, and you can partake
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: in that. And all of our other ridiculous discussions about horror.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: What is the minimum again?
• 22:59
  Speaker 10: Two bucks.
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: Two dollars.
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: Two dollars.
• 23:01
  Speaker 7: Two dollars.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: That's all you need to listen to the episodes. So,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, it kind of keeps us alive. I was
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: discussing the horrible situation it's been to try to keep
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: things going earlier to these poor bastards. Like, yeah, it's
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: not just like, hey, I'm rich and I want your
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: money anyway. It's, It really does keep the show going
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: to the level that people don't realize. It's kind of
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: the only way it's survived this last year and a
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: half or so since we started this. It's... Yeah. So,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: it is not only greatly appreciated, but it gives us
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: kind of a good way to come up with something
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: specific to put out there just for these people that we...
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: no actually care enough to kick in. So you get
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: a lot of great stuff for that $ 2. I'm saying
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: I like, I like being able to craft something for
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: a very special group. So you guys are super cool.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: And then you get these awesome episodes. So one more reason,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: go join up now. So go to our Patreon page,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: join the meltdown club, become a milk a tear. You
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: get cool stuff and you can help us keep the
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: meltdown rolling. Damn the man, save the meltdown.
• 24:14
  Speaker 9: You'll meet her at night, in a dark place.
• 24:17
  Speaker 8: She's beautiful.
• 24:19
  Speaker 9: And she'll be waiting for you.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: Waiting to love you to death.
• 24:27
  Speaker 9: New World Pictures presents The Velvet Vampire.
• 24:30
  Speaker 8: She'll love you to death.
• 24:32
  Speaker 9: And on the same bill, this second horror shocker, Scream
• 24:36
  Speaker 9: of the Demon Lover. Was he a man, or was
• 24:39
  Speaker 9: he the depraved monster resurrected from a grisly death to
• 24:43
  Speaker 9: stalk the night with a loathsome craving which only the
• 24:45
  Speaker 9: most unspeakable horrors could satisfy? You'll find out when you
• 24:49
  Speaker 9: hear the scream of the demon lover. It may be
• 24:53
  Speaker 9: the last sound you hear. See the velvet vampire and
• 24:57
  Speaker 9: scream of the demon lover, both in shocking color, rated R.
• 25:02
  Speaker 9: If you see them at night, don't walk home alone.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: Excuse me.
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: This is not what I asked for.
• 25:11
  Speaker 7: Read the sign, sir.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: We're now only permitted to serve 5% blood with every coffee.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: I don't care what the sign says.
• 25:22
  Speaker 8: Just put some more fucking blood in my coffee.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: We should have our coffee. I know you like coffee.
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: Oh my god, is this a segue to something?
• 25:34
  Speaker 9: What?
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: You don't want to run out to Heine Brothers right now?
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: Actually, now that you mention it, I'm drinking some fine
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: coffee here, but I feel like enjoying a nice hot
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: cup from my local Heine Brothers might actually be an
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: even better idea.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Well, really, you don't even have to leave the house.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: You could just have it ordered right to your doorstep.
• 25:52
  Speaker 9: Really?
• 25:53
  Speaker 11: Yeah.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: I can do that now?
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: It's not just something you can do. You can also
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: get a deal from your friends at Movie Meltdown.
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: No way.
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: Movie Meltdown? That's the show we're on, right?
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this one right now.
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: Oh, that's awesome. Hey, insert a sound of me kicking
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: over this table with this substandard coffee.
• 26:09
  Speaker 8: There.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: Right there.
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you heard it. And then let's run out, jump
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: in the car, and then screech sound effect as we
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: head on down to our local Heine Brothers.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: There.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: Man, subtle.
• 26:26
  Speaker 5: Subtle segue.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: I want to tell you about the Heine Brothers coffee subscription.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Wherever you are, home, work, or out on the road,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: you deserve great coffee. And the Heine Brothers subscription plan
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: gives you top quality, organic, fair trade coffee delivered right
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: to your home or office automatically. You select the frequency,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: the quantity, and the variety of coffee, and Heine Brothers
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: will take care of the rest, shipping included. So just
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: order online at heinebrotherscoffee.com slash subscription and use the offer
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: code MELTDOWN for $ 5 off any gift subscription. And if
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: you're not familiar with Honey Brothers Coffee, or the spelling,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: or any of that that might make it a little harder,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: just go to MovieMeltdown.com and look on the right-hand side
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: of the page, and you'll find a link to take
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: you right to HoneyBrothersCoffee.com. That's right, the Meltdown Caffeinated Movie
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: Geeks are hooking you up, so get your subscription started today. Hey,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: this is Chris Sarandon, and you're listening to Movie Meltdown.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: It's time for Sofa Theater. I want to see how
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: we get started.
• 27:52
  Speaker 8: So you want me to tell you the story of
• 27:54
  Speaker 8: my life? I'll tell you my story. I'll tell you
• 27:57
  Speaker 8: all of it. I'm flesh and blood, but not human.
• 28:07
  Speaker 8: I haven't been human for 200 years.
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: From the novel by Anne Rice. From Neil Jordan, the
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: director of The Crying Game. I've come to answer your prayers.
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: Life has no meaning anymore, does it? His name is Lestat.
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: What if I could give it back to you? pluck
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: out the pain and give you another life. One you
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: could never imagine. I can see you lying on a
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: bit of satin. He chose one man. He gave him
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: infinite power, eternal life, and a daughter who would be
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: forever young.
• 28:57
  Speaker 8: This is the only real evil left.
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: And then he took the light of day. You're a vampire.
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: You never knew what life was until it.
• 29:16
  Speaker 8: Ran out in a red gush over your lips. You
• 29:21
  Speaker 8: can't stand us any longer.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: You made us what we are, didn't you?
• 29:25
  Speaker 8: God kills indiscriminately, and so shall we.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: You like dying?
• 29:33
  Speaker 8: You condemn me to hell!
• 29:37
  Speaker 7: A monster.
• 29:38
  Speaker 8: One happy family.
• 29:42
  Speaker 11: Take her, Louise.
• 29:44
  Speaker 9: End her suffering.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: End yours.
• 29:46
  Speaker 10: But do not doubt.
• 29:47
  Speaker 8: You are a killer.
• 29:48
  Speaker 5: I want some more.
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: Tom Cruise. Brad Pitt. Stephen Ray. Antonio Banderas. Kirsten Dunst,
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: and Christian Slater. Interview with the Vampire.
• 30:14
  Speaker 6: Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm a man of
• 30:19
  Speaker 6: wealth and taste. I've been around for a long, long year.
• 30:26
  Speaker 6: Stole many a man's soul and faith. I was around
• 30:32
  Speaker 6: when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain.
• 30:40
  Speaker 6: Made damn sure the pilot washed his hands and sealed
• 30:45
  Speaker 6: his face.
• 30:46
  Speaker 12: Pleased to meet you.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: Hope you guessed my name.
• 30:57
  Speaker 6: But what's puzzling you is the nature of my game.
• 31:06
  Speaker 6: Stuck around St. Petersburg when I saw it was a
• 31:11
  Speaker 6: time for change.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: So I guess first off, I have to bring up
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: just because one of the people on our show for
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: years went on about this. Have you ever heard the
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: intro that Anne Rice did on the videotape when it
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: very first got released on video?
• 31:30
  Speaker 10: No.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: It's so funny. I don't know. Are you a big
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: Anne Rice fan outside of this?
• 31:37
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 31:37
  Speaker 7: Okay. The reason why I picked this movie, we're talking
• 31:41
  Speaker 7: about Interview with the Vampire, is because when I read
• 31:45
  Speaker 7: this book, it changed me.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Nice. All right.
• 31:49
  Speaker 7: I mean, I think that I found this book when
• 31:52
  Speaker 7: I was 16 or 17.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Interesting. The time when it's going to make the most impact, probably.
• 31:56
  Speaker 8: Right.
• 31:56
  Speaker 7: And, I mean, this was before Twilight and paranormal young
• 32:02
  Speaker 7: adult romance books became a thing. But it basically invented
• 32:07
  Speaker 7: that genre thing.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: Or at least popularized it to the point that normal
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: people knew about it. There's kind of always been horror
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: fiction out there, but nobody ever really took to it
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: the way that they did once Anne Rice came along.
• 32:21
  Speaker 7: Anne Rice, I think, was groundbreaking in combining the idea
• 32:26
  Speaker 7: of vampires with the romantic angle. Definitely. The whole homoeroticism
• 32:35
  Speaker 7: of that story.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, which I definitely want to touch on.
• 32:38
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 32:39
  Speaker 7: Lots of people do.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I mean, it's hard to fight it, but
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: we'll get to that. Yeah.
• 32:45
  Speaker 7: It was something I hadn't encountered before. And I think
• 32:50
  Speaker 7: for me also discovering it when I was a teenager,
• 32:53
  Speaker 7: I think that monsters have a lot of appeal for
• 32:57
  Speaker 7: teenagers because there's.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: We're weirdo monster gang. We're dealing with that same, you know,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: we're Frankenstein crashing through things and trying to figure out
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: who we are. And yeah, we are monsters.
• 33:08
  Speaker 7: Especially as teenagers going through puberty, going through these like
• 33:15
  Speaker 7: emotions are so much stronger when you're a teenager and
• 33:18
  Speaker 7: you have all the hormones, you're drowning in them that
• 33:21
  Speaker 7: like you kind of feel like you're turning into a
• 33:24
  Speaker 7: vampire or a werewolf. These monsters that are very much
• 33:28
  Speaker 7: based on the carnal ideas and really involving some body horror. Yeah,
• 33:35
  Speaker 7: and primal things. I think it has a special draw
• 33:39
  Speaker 7: to people who feel like they don't understand the transitions
• 33:43
  Speaker 7: that they're going through, and they feel sometimes like monsters
• 33:47
  Speaker 7: as well. I mean, you're sprouting new hairs that you
• 33:50
  Speaker 7: didn't have before.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: You're turning into a creature of some sort.
• 33:53
  Speaker 7: You're not used to like how much space your body
• 33:55
  Speaker 7: takes up, constantly hitting your head on things and like falling,
• 33:59
  Speaker 7: knocking things over, breaking things. And like so much, having
• 34:03
  Speaker 7: so much more physical strength than you did as a
• 34:06
  Speaker 7: little kid.
• 34:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 34:07
  Speaker 7: Even as a very skinny and weak teenage girl, it
• 34:12
  Speaker 7: was like much more than I had as a child. Yeah.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: Suddenly you've got these sort of newfound adult abilities thrown
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: at you and you're not mentally ready for them probably.
• 34:22
  Speaker 7: And you don't. you don't have enough experience to be
• 34:25
  Speaker 7: able to manage your emotions. So it feels like being
• 34:27
  Speaker 7: possessed sometimes.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: Pretty much. Yeah. Well, that, and it, that may tie
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: in perfectly. That's what I thought was funny was because the,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: the message it's super serious though, because I guess, I mean, again,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: at that point it's coming out like that year, either
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: into 94, beginning of 95. And like, everything was still like,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: there's no like comedic aspect to any of this. Like
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: everything was very dead serious with it. So like she
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: comes on and does this, like, Very specific spoken word
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: intro to the camera.
• 34:55
  Speaker 12: Interview with a Vampire, the film you're about to see,
• 34:58
  Speaker 12: is one that I love with all my heart. I
• 35:01
  Speaker 12: couldn't take greater pleasure in recommending a movie to you.
• 35:06
  Speaker 12: I remember the first time I saw this film. I
• 35:08
  Speaker 12: wasn't in the theater and I wasn't with the big screen.
• 35:11
  Speaker 12: I was in the privacy of my own home and
• 35:14
  Speaker 12: I was watching it on videotape, just as you probably
• 35:17
  Speaker 12: are going to do now. Warner Brothers, in a very
• 35:21
  Speaker 12: unusual act of trust, had sent me an early tape
• 35:23
  Speaker 12: of the film before the movie's release.
• 35:26
  Speaker 11: Anxiously, nervously, I put.
• 35:29
  Speaker 12: It into the machine and I sat back and for
• 35:32
  Speaker 12: two hours watched in spellbound silence.
• 35:36
  Speaker 7: I really loved it.
• 35:37
  Speaker 12: I felt that they had captured everything important about my
• 35:40
  Speaker 12: novel that I wanted them to capture. This movie, and
• 35:44
  Speaker 12: I think you'll agree with me on this, this movie
• 35:47
  Speaker 12: is not just about vampires.
• 35:48
  Speaker 7: It's really about us.
• 35:51
  Speaker 12: But I think we've said enough.
• 35:53
  Speaker 7: If you know Lestat, you.
• 35:54
  Speaker 12: Know he's dying to get into the spotlight. And I
• 35:58
  Speaker 12: should step aside now. But let me just remind you,
• 36:01
  Speaker 12: it's not just about vampires.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: It's really about us. And she says it twice in
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: the message. And I'm like, That's so, but I mean,
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: it is kind of true, but it is funny that
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: she points that out. Like she bothers to give this
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: very official announcement beforehand. I'm like, she's an interesting lady.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: I wish I'd seen this. It's on YouTube. So I
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: can send you the link because yeah, that's the thing.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Like Fred's been on the show for years and he
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: talked about it because he saw it. He like rented
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: it at the time and he saw it and was like,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: oh my God, this is amazing. And then when it
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: was on DVD, they didn't put it on there anymore.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: Like they got rid of it. So it was gone
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: for years. And it's finally this last year or so
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: resurfaced on YouTube where all the horrible secrets come out. So, yeah,
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: it's so funny. But it is interesting because it is
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: showing how serious she takes the subject matter as well,
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: which is what, yeah, let me, I usually at least
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: throw out our information before we get going.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: So.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: Officially, this week's Suffer Theater feature is Interview with the Vampire,
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: colon The Vampire Chronicles, which I think I forgot that
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: was always part of the title, but I don't know.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: The year is 1994. The director is Neil Jordan, and
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: the plot, according to IMDb, in a very simplified form,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: a vampire tells this epic life story, love, betrayal, loneliness,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: and hunger. And that's all it says. It's pretty minimal. So,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: spoiler alert, we're going to ruin this. So, just go
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: and watch it if you haven't seen it. So, yeah,
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: I did want to get into what drew you to it. So,
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: that's kind of interesting to see how you found it. So,
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: were you– that's one of the other things I was
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: going to get into before even most of the plot
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: was because there was so much drama that happened before
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: this movie even got made just with the casting. So,
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: were you already– was the movie already around by the
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: time you read it that first time?
• 37:56
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 37:57
  Speaker 7: No, I don't think the movie was out yet. I
• 38:01
  Speaker 7: did read the book not very long before the movie
• 38:04
  Speaker 7: came out, but at that time I was still kind
• 38:07
  Speaker 7: of oblivious to the world, so I didn't follow anything
• 38:09
  Speaker 7: about the production, except that I knew that... Everybody lost
• 38:13
  Speaker 7: their mind when they cast Tom Cruise. Yeah, I knew
• 38:17
  Speaker 7: that Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt had been cast, and
• 38:20
  Speaker 7: at that time I was really into Brad Pitt, and
• 38:23
  Speaker 7: I considered Tom Cruise... I considered Tom Cruise a crotchety
• 38:27
  Speaker 7: old man. Yeah.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: As it goes on, it kind of fits a little better.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: But I didn't know if you'd heard the laundry list
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: of characters that they had. No. When she wrote it,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: she wrote it because she wrote it like mid-80s, I guess.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: So she wrote it with Rutger Hauer in mind as
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: she was writing the character of Lestat.
• 38:44
  Speaker 7: I did read that more recently.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: Which is interesting because, yeah, he definitely would be.
• 38:48
  Speaker 7: Young Rutger Hauer was gorgeous.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, would be like Blade Runner era of Rutger Hauer
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: would be perfect. But then as it was published, then
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: when they started in talks, I don't know that she
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: was connected to this one, but once it was in talks,
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: John Travolta was supposed to be playing it. And then
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: that's early on when John Borwin was supposed to direct.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: And he wanted John Voight, which to me would have
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: still already been kind of too old. But then you
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: get to, once they start greenlighting things and getting things rolling,
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: at one point Anne Rice meets with Tom Hanks. coming
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: off of Philadelphia, so a very serious Tom Hanks, but
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: I think he was getting ready to go make Forrest
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: Gump and make money in Oscars and whatnot. So he
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: didn't do it. Then they had Daniel Day-Lewis was given
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: the role of Lestat and backed out weeks before shooting.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: They also offered it to Johnny Depp after that. Johnny
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: Depp turned it down. Which, again, 90s era Johnny Depp
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have been a terrible. Like, again, I have.
• 39:49
  Speaker 7: Problems with it now. No, Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt,
• 39:51
  Speaker 7: I would have been.
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I have more problems with them now personally. But
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: as an actor in the 90s, he was doing very
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: good work. So I would have been okay with that.
• 39:58
  Speaker 7: He was dreamy back then.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely. To counterbalance that with dreamy 90s
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: era Brad Pitt. I mean, what are you going to do? But, yeah,
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: then the rest of them just throwing out all these others.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: Jeremy Irons was thrown an offer and didn't want to
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: do it because he didn't want to do all the makeup.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: John Malkovich. Speaking of Robocop, Peter Weller was thrown the role,
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: which to me, way too old.
• 40:18
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: And Alexander Guganov, which is the weirdest one. I mean, granted,
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: I can see him as a vampire in something, but yeah,
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: not where I would be going with this. So, yeah,
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: all of that before it got thrown to Tom Cruise.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: And then what little the internet existed back then, I
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: guess people got on the Yahoo pages and just started
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: complaining because, like, people... lost their mind like i remember
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: hearing how much uproar there was at the time.
• 40:46
  Speaker 7: When i heard i was upset i was i thought
• 40:50
  Speaker 7: he was too old for for one thing and also
• 40:52
  Speaker 7: i just didn't think he was attractive um and i
• 40:57
  Speaker 7: was like lestat is like he's the the dreamiest being
• 41:02
  Speaker 7: mortal or immortal that has ever existed is.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: That fair By description in the book or by what
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: you came.
• 41:09
  Speaker 7: Up with in your head? And in my head. I
• 41:14
  Speaker 7: thought Louis was a sad sack. And the fact that
• 41:18
  Speaker 7: Brad Pitt was playing Louis, I was kind of mad
• 41:22
  Speaker 7: about it because Lestat was the one that I cared about.
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: Well, and that is another one I saw on the list.
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: They also at some point considered Brad Pitt for Lestat,
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: which would have been interesting had they reversed it. I
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: think either way, Brad Pitt would have been... pissy the
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: whole time yeah because as as i learned he was
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: not happy.
• 41:41
  Speaker 7: On this shoot no i think i think you can
• 41:43
  Speaker 7: totally see it in his performance watching it again again
• 41:46
  Speaker 7: as an adult that's phoned in but.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: At the same time i think it works because louis
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: himself is so miserable yes that i'm like it like
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: had he been 100 happy like i don't know Like,
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: can you hide that? Can you detach? Whereas you buy
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: how miserable Louie is because Brad is just hating every
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: minute of his life. So he hated the makeup. He
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: hated the wet, dark... I mean, they shot in darkness
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: all the time. Like, he just hated everything. The contacts.
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: He hated the contacts.
• 42:21
  Speaker 7: He wasn't very good at talking around the fangs either.
• 42:25
  Speaker 8: No.
• 42:25
  Speaker 7: Like, Tom Cruise, you can tell he had them in.
• 42:27
  Speaker 7: He was great at that.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: That's the thing. As it... As I went and saw it,
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: because that's the thing, I do remember going to see
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: it when it came out. And it was a weird
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: response I had to it at the time. And it's
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: changed over the years. But it is, I remember like
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: getting there and going, you know, Tom Cruise isn't bad.
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, like, I think he did the best he
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: could do.
• 42:48
  Speaker 7: I think he killed it.
• 42:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: When I saw it, I changed my opinion.
• 42:52
  Speaker 7: Of him as an actor. And he totally, he is
• 42:56
  Speaker 7: what I picture when I picture Louie now.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, Lestat now. Well, and that's the thing. I
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: think at the time I just, there was so much
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: backlash that I was like, he's fine. And like now
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: when I watch it, I'm like, he's not phoning anything in.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: Like he is swinging for the fences.
• 43:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 43:10
  Speaker 7: And that's a challenging character to play too.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: Because he's not likable at all.
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: No.
• 43:16
  Speaker 3: Like really.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: He's seductive, but he's not likable at all. He's a
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: horrible person.
• 43:21
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: Or undead creature as the case may be. But yeah,
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: I don't know. This was just such a weird thing.
• 43:28
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: So I don't know, that first time watching it, I
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: do remember just being kind of weirded out by the
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: relationships and mostly, I guess, the Louis and Lestat, only
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: because it, and again, as time's gone on, re-watching it
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: this weekend, I landed in a different place altogether. But
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: at the time, I was like, what are they doing? Like,
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: what is this relationship? And it's funny that people on
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: the internet are still arguing about it. Like, there's all
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: these people that are just like, They're big fans of
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: the book, but they're just like, no, they're totally platonic.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: It's just friends. And I'm like, that doesn't work.
• 44:04
  Speaker 7: They adopt a child together.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: That doesn't– yeah, that doesn't– It's.
• 44:07
  Speaker 7: A family drama.
• 44:08
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: And the more I watch it, I'm like, this movie
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: is nothing but broken relationships. Like, it is– that is
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: the entire running theme of this is just trying to
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: figure out who you are and then along the way
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: trying to, like, endear yourself to someone– And it not
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: working out. So again, it makes me think what sort
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: of like weird personal problems Anne Rice was kind of
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: working out as she was writing it. Because it seems
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: like you're just dealing with a bad breakup more or less,
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: but it's drug out over hundreds of years.
• 44:41
  Speaker 7: For me, when I went back and reread the book recently,
• 44:44
  Speaker 7: because I did a painting for a group show with
• 44:49
  Speaker 7: a theme of if you could do a cover for
• 44:52
  Speaker 7: any book. And I settled on Interview with the Vampire.
• 44:56
  Speaker 7: And so I reread the book and there were themes
• 44:59
  Speaker 7: in it that as an adult, I noticed that I
• 45:02
  Speaker 7: didn't when I was a kid because I was just,
• 45:04
  Speaker 7: I was, I was seducted by the brooding, like dark
• 45:08
  Speaker 7: hero kind of thing.
• 45:09
  Speaker 11: But.
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: They're work just fine. Yeah.
• 45:12
  Speaker 7: Rereading it. Louis is so, he's so religious and he's,
• 45:19
  Speaker 7: he often says things that it, it, It's sort of,
• 45:24
  Speaker 7: I realized that Anne Rice was kind of toying with
• 45:28
  Speaker 7: the idea of what is hell. And can you go
• 45:33
  Speaker 7: to hell without dying, which is what happens to Louis.
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: Or is purgatory essentially hell? Like if you're just stuck
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: somewhere and in a situation that you dislike forever, is
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: that not hell?
• 45:45
  Speaker 7: Yeah, exactly.
• 45:46
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I don't know. I think that was something
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: that felt so weird that first time. Also because I
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: don't think we, again, it was just heading into the mid-90s.
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: As a culture, we weren't really savvy when it came
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: to trying to figure out relationships between specifically two men.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: But even, like, I mean, the characters are essentially, like,
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: I think even in the book, they're supposed to be,
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: or Lestat was bisexual. But then as you get into this.
• 46:15
  Speaker 7: Right, but in the book, they're also sexless.
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: But they're also completely, which they certainly are in the movie, too. Yeah.
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: But I think, again, at the time, I think I
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: was just like, why not go ahead and just, you know,
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: get into that and, like, deal with the fact that
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: they are in a relationship and they're trying to. It
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: always felt like it was sort of, like, keeping that
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: at arm's length the whole time when, like, the dialogue
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: is there. Like you're having a relationship conversation, but then
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: at the last minute, it's like, Nope, like it just
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: pulls away, which I think going back and rewatching it now,
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: I feel like because that the characters themselves are, are
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: essentially sexless, that it creates a whole different level to it. Like,
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: I think it really is. It makes it more about
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: the relationship because you're removing the, the most complicated part of,
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: you know, would be throwing sex involved in any relationship.
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: So when you remove that, you're left with all the baggage.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: Like you're left with all the drama of being in
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: a relationship, but you have no way to like consummate it.
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: You have no way to also like relieve this tension.
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: Like there is no, again, that's usually that even when
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: you're fighting, like that's the way to make up. You know,
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: there's this weird dynamic that comes when you're involved in
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: a relationship that these characters can never have. So you're
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: left with all this like, hurt feelings and all this
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: resentment and anger and like hostility towards each other but
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: there's never a way there's still a love that's there
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: that carries them through this whole story but there's never
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: a way to really deal with it i guess the
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: only way that anybody is once we get to claudia
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: like she violently finds a way to deal with it
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: but like louis just does not know how to deal
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: with it and that's why he just becomes miserable and
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: complains and like i don't.
• 48:00
  Speaker 7: Know like he he winds up being selected by lestat
• 48:04
  Speaker 7: and turned into a vampire for the very same same
• 48:07
  Speaker 7: reason he's having the same problems as a living man before.
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah and was already yeah at that point like he
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: was already that's what i thought again re-watching it like
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: i kind of forgot how miserable he already was so
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: he's already like again if you're going by the movie
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: version he's already lost his wife and child like he's
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: already in mourning anyway He kind of hates his existence.
• 48:32
  Speaker 7: In the book version, it's his brother.
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, his brother dies, and he never has a white four-child.
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: But I don't hate that change, because it also leans
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: into the Claudia aspect a little more, that he already
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: has this soft spot for his child that is now
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: a big hole in him, and she kind of fills
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: that void. So I'm okay with that as being an adjustment.
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: But I think it is interesting, like the more I
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: look back at it now, I'm like, I think it
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: really does, by sort of taking that aspect out of them,
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: like it makes them almost more tragic characters. If they
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: were like, because again, the vampire is a very seductive monster.
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: It's the only one of the classic monsters that has
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: any cool factor to him, you know? Like even even
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: werewolves have power but there's no control to it so
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: you can't be a seductive werewolf you're just gonna tear
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: people apart the vampire is like the one monster that
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: seems to have control over what's going on and has
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: always been since you know legosi even weird hungarian guy
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: that he was It kind of came off as sexy.
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: It's like it's something about the role that makes them seductive.
• 49:38
  Speaker 7: Originally, the vampire as a pop culture horror creation came
• 49:46
  Speaker 7: from Lord Byron. He wrote a short story or an
• 49:51
  Speaker 7: idea for a short story that his personal physician... wrote
• 49:58
  Speaker 7: into a book called Vampire. But his personal physician had
• 50:04
  Speaker 7: wanted to be a man of letters and he was
• 50:06
  Speaker 7: so offended by Lord Byron's lifestyle that he based the
• 50:10
  Speaker 7: vampire on Lord Byron.
• 50:12
  Speaker 4: Again, yeah.
• 50:13
  Speaker 7: So you have like this man who was so lusty
• 50:20
  Speaker 7: and like.
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 50:22
  Speaker 7: Yeah. So it's very much about like the... The guy
• 50:27
  Speaker 7: who wrote it was religious and he was upset with
• 50:30
  Speaker 7: seeing his hero as this... Finding out that he was
• 50:33
  Speaker 7: this lust-driven, disgusting man.
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: Vampires.
• 50:39
  Speaker 7: But still seductive. He still was attracted to this guy
• 50:43
  Speaker 7: in some way. So I think the whole genesis of
• 50:47
  Speaker 7: vampires comes from that kind of... That sort of.
• 50:54
  Speaker 7: Fight that we all have between like, how, how do
• 50:57
  Speaker 7: you respect yourself when you can get taken away by
• 51:01
  Speaker 7: this passion? And like, what even is sexual drive and
• 51:04
  Speaker 7: like how, how much it controls our, our behavior.
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: Which I think that's what, again, watching at this time,
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: I started sort of zeroing in on that, that, that
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: it really is as you watch them. And that's why
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: I think it is, I guess, okay that we start
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: taking that, that, really sexualized aspect of the the like
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: romanticized version of it is still there and the the
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: strong feelings for each other is still there but the
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: the lust in a physical sense isn't there because the
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: blood lust takes its place right so it's like the
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: the act of them drinking the blood and then furlough
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: stat just the killing as a whole the act of
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: it is is almost that act of lust and it
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: almost like takes care of that for him. Like, I
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: don't know that they need anything else once they've gotten
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: the blood. Certainly with Stat. So it's like, I think
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: it really does change the way the characters, you know,
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: at that point you're watching them because they are driven
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: by nothing but this bloodlust and this hunger. And that
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: fulfills them in some aspect that takes the place of what,
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: you know, normal lust would be for either, even humans,
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: but yeah, definitely what the other version of a vampire
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: had been known to be. Because they were very sexualized
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: in so many other aspects. So this is like an
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: offshoot version where you take that out and all you're
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: left with is like the bloodlust.
• 52:29
  Speaker 8: Which one of you did it?
• 52:32
  Speaker 11: Which one of you did it?
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: Which one of you made me.
• 52:35
  Speaker 3: The way I am?
• 52:36
  Speaker 4: What you are?
• 52:38
  Speaker 8: A vampire gone insane that pollutes its own bed?
• 52:41
  Speaker 7: And if I cut my hair again?
• 52:43
  Speaker 3: It will grow back.
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: But it wasn't always so.
• 52:47
  Speaker 8: I had a mother once, and Louis, he had a wife.
• 52:50
  Speaker 7: He was mortal, the same as she, and so was I.
• 52:54
  Speaker 9: Claudia!
• 52:55
  Speaker 10: You made us what we.
• 52:56
  Speaker 11: Are, didn't you?
• 52:57
  Speaker 3: Stop her, Louis.
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: Did you do it to me? How did you.
• 53:07
  Speaker 6: Do it?
• 53:08
  Speaker 3: Why should I tell you? It's in my power.
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: Why yours alone?
• 53:15
  Speaker 10: Tell me how it was done.
• 53:17
  Speaker 11: Be glad i made.
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: You what you are you'd be dead now if i
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: let that damned corpse don't get rid of it you
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: get rid of it then we also get into the
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: again my and that's what i do remember from that
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: very first time because there are a few times watching
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: movies over the years that i will watch an up-and-coming
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: actor or actress and just be like no them them
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: like Kirsten Dunst is amazing. Like I just remember in
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: the theater at the time going, who is that kid?
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: Like that is, she just commands the screen. Like when
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: she gets on and starts like barking orders at these
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: two grown men and they're just like kind of like
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: afraid of her because she's so vicious. She's in a, yeah, she's,
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: and she's grown up to be, it's like, okay, I
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: was right. I called it. I'm like, that's an amazing actress.
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: And like throughout her career, she's turned in really great performances.
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: But yeah, watching her, At that age, what a gifted
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: actress she is. But then again, this time looking at
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: the Claudia character, because I think that falls into that
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: same category. That's why it's not just the.
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: Romance angle that's going on between like Louie and Lestat
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: it's also the Claudia and Louie more than anything right and.
• 54:33
  Speaker 7: The movie version Claudia she's aged up a little too
• 54:36
  Speaker 7: she's aged up a little bit and which is still
• 54:39
  Speaker 7: really young yeah and that that the movie version is
• 54:43
  Speaker 7: is so compelling and so she's so terrifying but fun
• 54:48
  Speaker 7: to watch that it gave me a new appreciation for
• 54:51
  Speaker 7: that character as well because I wasn't as interested in
• 54:54
  Speaker 7: her in the book.
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah Yeah, I could see, especially, like, if she's just... Again,
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: sometimes little kids can be annoying. So, like, if you
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: give her a couple extra years so that she does
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: seem like she's... Because that's the thing, again, watching this time,
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: it does make sense that she starts to have, you know,
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: legitimate feelings for Louis. Like, that it's not... Again, none
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: of it can really go anywhere, but even if it
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: weren't for the creepy age thing, like, even on top
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: of that, there's the vampire thing. So, like, none of
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: it can go anywhere, but it's this, like... her just
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: kind of hitting her head against the wall because she,
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: you know, it's not like your brain is, is frozen
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: in this infant state. You know, it's like she's growing
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: and spending decades. Like she, you know, 30, 40 years
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: goes by. And, like, so she's growing and becoming an adult, essentially,
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: in her head.
• 55:45
  Speaker 7: Yeah, and learning everything about how the world works and
• 55:48
  Speaker 7: all its ugliness.
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: And at that point, when you get to that stage
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: in your life, you start attaching yourself to other people.
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: And so she's immediately drawn to Louis because he's pretty
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: bad pit anyway. But on top of that, it's like
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: he's been there every step of the way. He's part
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: of her life. So it's like, of course, she's drawn
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: to him. But then you get to this, again, it's
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: just this other tragic, broken... Because there are moments when
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: she does refer to him as lover at one point,
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: but then she's like, my father, my mother, she's got
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: this weird identity crisis going on. You do watch her
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: kind of going through this whole thing of like, I
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: don't know what this person is. I love him regardless,
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: but I don't know how to even do anything. And
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: by the way, I can't because I'm this messed up
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: kid that's never going to grow up. So it's this
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: There's so many different aspects going on. I think Claudia
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: is by far the most interesting character involved.
• 56:43
  Speaker 7: Yeah, rereading it, I focus on it.
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think she's got so many different aspects going on.
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: And then I think it also creates, because they do
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: this little family thing, and I think that kind of
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: comes into play too when dealing with this sort of
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: scenario of them. We do have this adopting a child,
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: and we create this little modernized family that's going through
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: the decades as they roll by. But it's also like
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: you see, you start to like have to reassess like, well, okay,
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: they also don't have to worry about the norms of
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: society because they're, number one, they're kind of isolated. They
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: can only kind of go out enough to feed. They
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: can't really hang out in normal society anyway. But at
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: the same time, when you're the undead, like everything else,
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: they talk about how time just sort of flies by.
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: So like everyone else who would even be judging you
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: from a society standpoint is will be gone in the
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: blink of an eye essentially to you. So it's like,
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: you don't even have any other people that you're sort of,
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: you know, held to as far as building some sort
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: of society. So yeah, I don't know. That was kind
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: of weird too. As time went on, it's like, it
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: really is just this story about what, what are you
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: left with when you take away the lust angle, when
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: you take away having to conform to a normal society,
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: what are you left with? And it really is just
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: these feelings. Like that's why it's just, it's just relationships
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: like this love that, These characters have two of them
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: definitely all the time. Lestat is like a weird broken
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: third wheel. But he still oddly cares about them. Definitely.
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I can never tell what the scenario
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: is with Claudia. I think he just wants to be
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: in charge of her. He just likes the power trip
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: of her.
• 58:25
  Speaker 7: Well, he uses her to control Louis. To keep Louis
• 58:28
  Speaker 7: to him.
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: To keep Louis in line. Yeah, basically. But yeah, there's
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: definitely always feelings for Louis as years go on. So
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: it is interesting to sort of watch that over these
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: hundreds of years, that's the only through line. It's just
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: the love that they have for each other, messed up
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: as it is, and these just broken relationships of still
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: trying to make it work even though there's no way.
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: It is sort of hell on earth because there's no
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: way you can ever make it work.
• 58:54
  Speaker 7: I don't know.
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: Is there anything else? We've done a pretty good... overview
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: of all the crazy aspects. Is there anything else that
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: you were really into or just sort of taken with
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: that you wanted to bring up?
• 59:06
  Speaker 7: Well, I do think that Interview with the Vampire as
• 59:09
  Speaker 7: a film is especially interesting as being an adaptation from
• 59:15
  Speaker 7: a book and seeing what has to change from book
• 59:19
  Speaker 7: form to film form and some of the things that
• 59:22
  Speaker 7: a lot of people sort of deride the film version for.
• 59:27
  Speaker 7: I think that it's still It's one of those pieces
• 59:31
  Speaker 7: of art that is so unique in a lot of
• 59:35
  Speaker 7: ways that even if you don't like it as a film,
• 59:38
  Speaker 7: you have to respect it. Yeah.
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: And I always think it's interesting because when a writer
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: who comes up with either the screenplay originally or this
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: book that it's taken from, then comes in and finalizes
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: the screenplay that.
• 59:50
  Speaker 2: Goes on screen.
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: because you get to see them making changes to their
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: own thing. So, I mean, the fact that Anne Rice
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: wrote the screenplay, I'm like, these are not just approved
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: versions by her. These are adjustments that she made that
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: maybe even in the middle of the book, she was like,
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: you know, I really would have liked to have done this,
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: but it's, you know, already printed. So like this gives
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: them a chance to kind of play with their own world.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: So I'm always fascinated by watching, you know, what happens when.
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 11: Right.
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 7: And with the film, you can't have the internal life
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 7: of the character the way you can in a book.
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 7: So you don't just automatically know what all of the
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 7: actors are thinking. So things have to be changed.
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: And visually, it is pretty great. Like this is Neil
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: Jordan coming off of his big Oscar push. But this
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: is probably the most lush and lavish version of Neil
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: Jordan you ever get because he's. Again, he's coming off
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: like a huge Oscar movie and then gets greenlit and
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: thrown this huge property. So it ups his budget massively
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: and brings in these huge stars. So he's made a
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: lot of movies over the years, but I don't think
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: anything is quite this elaborate of watching them like. build
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: giant houses just to burn them down and burn down
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: the i'm just like everywhere you leave louis is on
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: fire what is wrong with you you've got problems.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 7: Well fire is one of the only things that kills
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 7: vampires in our world so that's like a relief that's
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 7: symbolically very final but he.
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: Took out half a new oil right calm down.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 7: And it is very expensive on the budget yeah.
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: So again i don't think you'll ever see that level
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: of even a neil jordan movie so it's That's interesting
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: to watch, too, because there are some beautiful visuals in
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: this and just the way the camera works. Yeah, I
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: was glad to go back and rewatch it. So thank
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: you for sitting in on this one. And again, tell
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: people where to find you. And if you've got anything
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: coming up you want to tell them about.
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 7: My website is WinonaNelson.com. And if you follow me on Facebook,
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 7: I always post news about upcoming events that I'll be
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 7: appearing at and things like that. Instagram as well. And
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 7: every month I post on everydayoriginal.com, which is a website
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 7: that sells original paintings for $ 500 or less. Nice. So
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 7: that's another good way to get your hands on a
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 7: small original piece by me.
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: And again, your artwork is great. So yeah, definitely everybody
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: go check it out and follow her and go visit
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: her out in the world.
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 7: Thank you so much for having me.
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: All right. Thank you for being here and thank you
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: guys for listening. Otherwise, that about does it. We will
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: return next time. Same geek feed. Thanks for listening.
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 10: There's a crack in the mirror and a blood stain
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 10: on the bed There's a crack in the mirror and
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 10: a blood stain on the bed Oh, you are a
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 10: vampire and baby, I'm a walking dead Oh, you are
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 10: a vampire and baby, I'm a walking dead.
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 11: Oh, yeah.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 10: Oh, yeah. There's a rocking chair by the window down
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 10: the hall Here's something there in the shadow down the
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 10: hall Oh, you were a vampire and now I.
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 11: Am nothing at all Oh, you were a.
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 10: Vampire and now I am nothing at all.
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 11: I got the ways and means to New Orleans I'm
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 11: going down by the river where it's warm and green
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 11: I'm gonna have a drink and walk around I got
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 11: a lot to think about Oh yeah Oh yeah Oh yeah.
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 12: Oh yeah.
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 7: Thank you.
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 10: We used to dance in the garden in the middle
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 10: of the night. Dancing out in the garden in the
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 10: middle of the night. Oh, you were a vampire and
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 10: I may never see the light. Oh, you were a
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 10: vampire and I may never see the light.
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 11: I got the ways and means to New Orleans. I'm
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 11: going down by the river where it's warm and green.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 11: I'm gonna have a drink and walk around. I got
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 11: a lot to think about. I got the ways and
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 11: means to New Orleans. I'm going down by the river
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 11: where it's warm and green. Storm and rain I'm gonna
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 11: have a drink And walk around I got a lot
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 11: to think about Oh yeah Oh yeah Oh yeah Oh
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 11: yeah Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 2: This episode is a production of Movie Meltdown, produced and
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 2: edited by The Oddity Studios, with opening music performed by
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 2: The Empires. For more on how to sponsor or support
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 2: the show, email producer at moviemeltdown.com.
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 4: Talk hard!
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: This program is a proud member of the Battleship Pretension Fleet.